U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and NOAA Fisheries to Hold Public
Hearings on Proposed Gulf Sturgeon Critical Habitat and Its Potential
Economic Impacts

Public meetings to discuss a proposal to designate critical
habitat for the Gulf
sturgeon and the associated analysis of potential economic
impacts. The Gulf sturgeon, federally listed as an endangered species,
inhabits coastal waters from Louisiana through Florida during the spring,
summer, and fall. It winters in estuaries, bays, and the Gulf of Mexico.

In Louisiana and Mississippi, Gulf sturgeon critical habitat is proposed
for the Pearl and Bogue Chitto Rivers; Lake Pontchartrain (east of the
Lake Pontchartrain Causeway); Lake Catherine; Little Lake; the Rigolets;
Lake Borgne; Pascagoula Bay; Mississippi Sound; and sections of the
adjacent state waters within the Gulf of Mexico. Included in Mississippi
are the Pascagoula, Leaf, Bowie or Bouie, Big Black Creek, and Chicksawhay
Rivers.